West Linn Announces Final Police Chief Candidates

WEST LINN, OR – October 15, 2021

Three finalists for the West Linn Chief of Police position have been selected following an extensive community input, screening, and preliminary interview process. The finalists include Port of Portland Police Captain Cory Chase, Acting West Linn Police Chief Peter Mahuna, and Leadership Program Coordinator for the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training Terry Moss.

Chase oversees law enforcement at Portland International Airport, General Aviation, and surrounding Port properties in his current role as Captain for the Port of Portland Police Department. Chase worked for the Port Police Department as a Patrol Operations Lieutenant and Special Operations Lieutenant since 2012 before being promoted to Captain in 2017. Prior to working for the Port, Chase was a Patrol Officer for the Prineville Police Department, and held a number of positions of increasing responsibility for the Redmond Police Department, including Police Officer and Field Training Officer, Detective, Patrol Sergeant, Detective Sergeant, and Patrol Lieutenant. Chase highlights accomplishments such as improvements to department culture, reforming training/evaluation/use-of-force programs, and leading an evolving diversity, equity, and inclusion program to create transparency and community partnership. He has a Bachelor of Science in Organizational Leadership degree from Columbia Southern University.

Mahuna has been Acting Chief of the West Linn Police Department (WLPD) since April of 2020 and Captain for West Linn since 2018. Mahuna has been serving the Portland Metropolitan area for 29 years, most recently as Captain of the Drugs and Vice Division for the Portland Police Bureau (PPB). He also rose through the ranks at PPB through positions in Operations, Investigations, and Services Departments, including supervisory roles. Mahuna highlights transformative cultural changes he made in the Sex Crimes and Personnel Divisions while at PPB, current collaborative relationships with police oversight and community groups, and leading the WLPD through a challenging period of history, including local and national racial injustice, COVID-19, a historic ice storm, and wildfires. Mahuna has a Bachelor’s Degree in Social Work from Pacific University, holds an Executive Certificate from the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training, and is a graduate of the Police Executive Research Forum Senior Management Institute for Police.

Moss currently serves as the Leadership Program Coordinator for the Oregon Department of Public Safety Standards and Training (DPSST), developing curriculum and providing police training on a wide range of topics for the past three years. Moss has 30 years of police experience, beginning as a Reserve Officer for the City of Molalla, before becoming a full-time Officer for 27 years for the City of St. Helens. He promoted through every rank in the organization and spent the last five years as the St. Helen’s Chief of Police. As the Chief of Police, he led the agency through the accreditation process and helped to develop a countywide Crisis Intervention Team. In 2018 he received the Max Patterson award from the Oregon Association of Chiefs of Police for presenting programs of outstanding benefit to young people of all ages in the community. Moss holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Portland State University and is a graduate of the FBI National Academy.

Finalists will take part in a comprehensive in-person Assessment Center Exercise on October 28 with representatives of a number of community groups, including the West Linn Police Accountability and Oversight Task Force, Building Bridges, West Linn Alliance for Inclusive Community, West Linn Community for Police Reform, and each neighborhood association. This exercise will be publicly broadcast for the community and is designed to measure critical job competencies identified by the community. 

Two additional evaluations for October 29 have been developed in partnership with Emergency Services Consulting International, our expert in public safety recruitment. These are not community-based evaluations and will not be publicly broadcast, they will be performed by the City Manager; City leadership; Derrick Peterson, Multnomah County Sheriff’s Captain and President of the local chapter of the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE); Luke Strait, Milwaukie Police Chief and Don Johnson, Lake Oswego Fire Chief and former Chief of Police.

Data provided from all the evaluations, along with valuable input from community and other stakeholder groups will be combined and used in the decision making process. The City Manager expects to make a final decision in November after careful review and analysis of all provided information.

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